Abilities

Ironside is a powerful enemy with high stats that can deal 1,020 HP damage to the whole party on its sixth turn. When it opens up its chest cavity to cast Storm Cannon, physical attacks can do ten times as much damage as otherwise.

Ironside's normal attack reduces a character's HP to 1 and always does this attack on the character with the highest HP and no part of its attack sequence is random. Its first, third, fourth, and fifth attacks are always a normal attack, its second is always Body Press, and its sixth is always Storm Cannon, which takes a long time to prepare, leaving it open to physical attacks.

In Oversoul, Ironside only uses magic attacks as long as its Reflect is not dispelled. Ironside will spend six rounds casting the lowest level magic and -Ra spells, before it gets to the -Ga spells. When Oversouled, Ironside always casts Reflect on itself as first move. If this is dispelled it will do one spell attack, then a normal attack, followed by Storm Cannon. If a character has Reflect on it will cast Dispel on the party.

Other than that, Oversouled Ironside does only magical attacks; the whole range of elemental magic, element by element and level by level, starting at Fire and going all the way to Waterga, and finishing with Ultima.

One Alchemist with a Mega Potion Stash, or a White Mage healing the party can keep any party alive. If Ironside's Body Splash kills party members outright, Protect will help. Storm Cannon's damage can be halved with Shell.

In the International and HD Remaster versions of the game, when the Ironside is captured in a Trap Pod L via Creature Creator, starting at Chapter 3 in the Zanarkand Ruins and Kilika, it comes armed with Ailment Def., which protects it from all status problems, and Total Limit Break, which allows it to exceed 9999 damage and HP. It also has Attack, Cure, and Body Splash.

It has high Strength, Defense, Agility (which is ironic for such a bulky creature), Magic, and Accuracy. It also has moderate Magic Defense, but low Luck and Evasion.

This Ironside happens to be a female, quite narcissistic and hiding something. She is also very distrustful of humans. The Ironside would also complain about not being fed enough food during her stay with Shinra and the other captured creatures. This is because she wasn't alone; she had someone with her, but the identity of this/these extra people are not revealed until the Ironside's release.

When released to the Zanarkand Ruins, she runs to a peak and tells whomever she was talking about to come out of hiding. The Ironside then opens her chest, where her cannon is located, and releases a countless number of the eyeball fiends. These flying cyclops are then revealed to be the Ironside's offspring, and if this is not so, she is most likely their caretaker. One of them go up to her and tell her that the humans were not as scary as believed. The Ironside then agrees with this fiend after thinking it over.